


What Happened to Tadashi?

by Ya_gurl_jim



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Mystery, Post-Time Skip, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi Friendship, but only in the beginning, then they go to third year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:49:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ya_gurl_jim/pseuds/Ya_gurl_jim
Summary: 15 years ago, Tadashi disappeared on his 18th birthday. While walking in the woods on the anniversary of his disappearance, Kei finds a mysterious spirit who sends him back in time to save Tadashi. But there's a catch. If he fails, everything could be taken away from him.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 73





	1. The Party that Went Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I hope you enjoy this. I'll try my best to update as soon as I can. I already have most of the story planned out, so it shouldn't take too long (:  
> Also if you see any mistakes, pretend you didn't. It's kinda late lol

“What’s his problem?” Kageyama asked, angry. 

Kei stopped in the hallway, out of sight, but still close enough to hear what was being said in the living room. 

“Moron, think about what day tomorrow is!” Shou said, in his ‘whisper’ that was more like a normal person’s talking voice. 

“Wha-? Oh, oh I forgot about that…” 

“Idiot, Kei’s really… sensitive around this time. You’ll just have to ignore it.”

Kei scoffed as he continued down the hall to his and Shouyou’s room. Granted, his little argument with the King was Kei’s fault, but he wasn’t about to admit that. He just needed some time to himself. And Shou wasn’t wrong in saying he was sensitive right now. Tomorrow was Tadashi’s birthday, which was also the day that he disappeared 15 years ago, and Kei has never really gotten over it. 

The worst part is, no one knows if he’s still alive or not. They never found a body, but no one has seen Tadashi since then. But Kei continued to hold out hope that maybe, by some miracle, Tadashi was still out there, wanting to come home. 

A few hours later, Kei heard a quiet knock at the door, and when he didn’t say anything, it opened. He saw Shou’s orange head peek out from behind the door, probably to see if he was asleep or not. 

When he saw that Kei was still awake, he bounded into the room and jumped into the bed. He then pulled Kei into a hug, which wasn’t unusual for him, but still caught Kei off guard. 

“Kageyama just left, I thought you’d be happy about that,” Shou said with a playful laugh. 

“Yeah, he was being annoying. But I guess that’s just how he is.”

“Although… you know that the whole argument was  _ your _ fault, right.” 

Kei sighed. “To be honest, I don’t even remember what the argument was about. Knowing me, it was probably my fault. But I’d rather die than tell the King that.”

Shou laughed a little, as he began to play with Kei’s hair. He was just about asleep when he heard his phone ringing. He sighed, and looked to see who could possibly need him this late. Of course it was none other than his brother. 

He was about to decline the call when Shou grabbed the phone out of his hand and answered it. 

“Oh hey Akiteru! Yeah he’s right next to me. Can you believe he was going to decline? Thankfully I got to it before he could. Yeah, here.” He stuck out the phone to Kei. “It’s for you.”

“Wow who would’ve thought that? It’s not like it’s my phone or anything.” Kei took his phone from Shou and reluctantly put it up to his ear. “Yes?”

“Ah! Kei, how are ya? It feels like it’s been forever since we talked.”

“Cause it has,” he said bluntly. 

Akiteru laughed. “Classic Kei, see you’re still as blunt as ever. How Shou-kun deals with you I will never understand. Anyway, I called to see if you were going to come into town tomorrow? You know the Yamaguchi’s are throwing a party-”

“No, I have work.” That was a lie, but Akiteru didn’t need to know that. 

“What? Come on Kei, you haven’t been home in a while, and you haven’t been to a party for Tadashi. I know he would want you to be there.”

“Don’t bring him into this. I’m not going, that’s final.”

Shou grabbed his phone out of his hand again. “Akiteru, it’s Shouyou again. We’ll be there. Even if I have to drag him. Okay, we’ll meet you there! Bye-bye.”

Kei stared at Shouyou in shock. He had no idea what just happened. “What did you just do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Shou asked. “We are going to Yamaguchi’s party and you are going to have fun. Every year you mope around and Akiteru was right. He’d want you to move on.”

Kei had no words. It has been awhile since he’d been speechless by something Shou had done. Of course, Shou took his lack of words as an agreement. 

“Good, so I’ll see when the earliest train to Miyagi is, and you go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”

Kei couldn’t help but think that this was all a huge mistake. 

  
  
  
  
  


Sleep. He needed sleep. Of course Shou picked the train that left at 6 a.m. It also didn’t help that Kei couldn’t sleep last night. He spent most of the night tossing and turning. He was nervous about seeing everyone again. He made it a habit to not see anyone from high school (except Shou of course, and by default, Kageyama). He didn’t know what it would be like to finally see them again after almost 13 years. 

The train was mostly empty, except for a few people in dressy clothes on their way to work. Thankfully, that meant that he and Shou were able to sit down. Kei didn’t want to stand after so few minutes of sleep. 

Sleep. That sounded good. Kei’s head fell on top of Shou’s, the perfect height for him to be comfortable. He felt Shou’s hand grab for his, and their fingers linked together. 

“You don’t have to worry about falling asleep, I’ll make sure to wake you up when we get there.”

Kei really didn’t understand how he was so awake right now, but he didn’t really want to think about that right now. He just wanted to get some rest before he had to interact with other people. 

He must’ve fallen asleep, because next thing he knew, his shoulder was being shaken. 

“Kei wake up, this is our stop.” He blinked his eyes open to see a mass of orange hair, and a blinding smile. Something about Shouyou’s smile was contagious, because Kei found himself smiling along with him. Kei let him gently pull him up out of the train seat, and out the doors, holding his hand the whole time. This was nice. 

But it all went out the window when he saw his brother and remembered what they were doing. His face fell, as well as his stomach. If he had less dignity, he would’ve dug his feet into the ground and refused to move. But, as a fully grown adult, he decided that was a little too childish. 

“Kei! Shouyou-kun! Nice to see you guys!” Akiteru wrapped Shou into a hug, forcing him to drop Kei’s hand. Kei started at his hand, as if he had lost it. He then looked back up at his brother. He had a big smile on his face. Kei wasn’t so heartless as to yell at him right now, so he gave a small wave. That should do. 

Unfortunately, Akiteru didn’t think so. He grabbed Kei around the middle and picked him up a little. 

“Kei! You’ve gotta fatten up. You’re a stick!” he exclaimed. 

“Please put me down.”

He set Kei down, and beckoned them to follow him. He and Shou talked about seemingly nothing, with Kei lingering behind them a bit. 

When they got to the car, Kei was forced to sit in the back, which seemed unfair, since his legs were the longest. 

After the relatively short drive, Kei couldn’t feel his legs. He stumbled out of the car, leaning on Shou the whole walk to his parents front door. Akiteru pushed the door open without knocking, and announced that they were home. 

Kei saw his mom come out of the kitchen, where she was probably making breakfast. Her face lit up when she saw Kei and Shou. She practically ran with her arms wide open, and embraced both of them in one big hug. 

“I’m so happy to see both of you! When Akiteru told me you were coming, I couldn’t believe my ears. Do you have any baggage?” 

“Sorry, we are only staying until the party is over. We have work and practice tomorrow.” Kei hated to disappoint his mom, but he was sure she’d understand. 

As she pulled away, her smile was a little smaller, but she nodded. “Yes of course. You are working adults now. Well, shall we eat?”

Breakfast was uneventful. As always, Shou ate enough to feed an army, and did most of the talking. Kei was big enough to admit that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He made a mental note to make more time to come visit.

The same could not be said for the party, unfortunately. 

The Yamaguchis were very surprised to see Kei there. Which was fair, seeing as he has never gone to one. But they made a huge deal about it, and Tadashi’s mom started crying when she saw him. He awkwardly hugged her, and tried to comfort her, but he was very bad at that type of thing. 

He saw a lot of the guys from Karasuno’s volleyball team, members from each year he and Tadashi were on the team. He made awful small talk with his former senpais and basically avoided his former kouhais. After what seemed like years, he finally was able to be alone out in the back garden. 

He was sitting on the ground, drink in hand, staring at the cherry blossom tree that he and Tadashi used to sit under when they were in elementary school. He felt tears fall down his face at this memory. The sobs that were being held back this whole day finally found their way out. Why did he leave? And where did he go? There were so many unanswered questions that kept going around and around in Kei’s head. He wanted answers. He  _ needed  _ answers. 

He heard the back door slide open, and he hurriedly wiped the tears from his face. He turned and saw Shou standing there. 

“I figured you’d be out here. I brought your coat, it’s kinda cold. Don’t want you to get sick.”

He held out Kei’s jacket, and Kei reached out and took it from him. Shou joined him on the ground, and gave him a tight hug. 

“You know, you don’t have to keep everything bottled in. You can talk to me about it.”

Kei nodded, but didn’t say anything. He heard Shou sigh, then his arms left their place around him. Kei turned and looked at him, and saw he had stood up. 

“Let’s go for a walk,” he said, holding out his hand for Kei to take. He took it and let Shou pull him up. They walked hand in hand under the cherry blossom, and into the woods behind the Yamaguchi household. Kei was glad that Shou had grabbed his jacket, because the wind was picking up and it was getting really cold. 

Shou suddenly stopped, pulled Kei back. “What was that?”

“What?”

“I thought I saw something.”

Kei squinted, trying to see what his boyfriend had. He didn’t see anything. He turned to look back at Shou, but something stopped him. He noticed a shadow standing next to a tree in front of them. He went to tell Shou, but he had already seen it.

“Who’s there?” Shou called out.

“Ah, so you are an observant one?” it asked in a pitchy voice. The shadow moved closer to the couple, and Kei could faintly make out a humanoid shape. “The last one was not as lucky.”

The shadow stopped a few feet in front of them, and even though it was closer, Kei couldn’t make out anymore details. 

“What do you mean ‘last one’?” Shou asked. Kei elbowed him, as if to say “Don’t talk to random shadows in the forest”, but he ignored him. 

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ll tell. But you can take a guess. He was a young adult, say, 17? But that’s old news, it happened about 15 years ago today actually.”

Kei felt his blood turn to ice. Completely ignoring his gut instinct to stay quiet, he asked, “What did you do with Tadashi?”

The shadow moved where Kei thought it’s head was. “Oh? You know of him? Nice young boy, a shame he had to go.”

Kei could feel himself getting angrier each second that passed and he didn’t get an answer. 

The shadow could sense it. “He needed a favor from me. You see, I’m a forest spirit. I grant favors to the lost. He needed help, and I needed something in return. It’s a system that has worked for hundreds of years. Would you like one?”

Kei was just about to say yes, when Shou interrupted him.

“What kind of thing do you take in return?”

The spirit laughed. “I take something of value. Something precious to whoever needs me. Whether it be a person, or… a body.” Something about the way he said that made Kei shiver. He wasn’t sure what happened to Tadashi, but it was probably nothing good if it involved this spirit. 

Kei pulled Shou towards him, and away from the spirit.

“I don’t know about you, but we might be able to use this to our advantage. We could get Tadashi back!”

“Kei. I know you want Yamaguchi back, but this is dangerous. What if the same thing happens to you? I don’t think I could bear to lose you.”

“Shou, please. This might be the only way. I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen.”

Shou was silent for a minute. Then he nodded. They both turned back to the spirit. 

“Okay,” Kei started. “We would like to ask a favor. You took one of our friends 15 years ago. We want him back.”

The spirit cocked it’s head. “I can’t do that. But you can.”

Kei was getting tired of the beating around the bush that this spirit was doing. 

“Listen, either we get him back, or we leave. We aren’t asking for anything else.”

“Fine, but only one of you can go back.”

“Wait, what do you mean by go back?” Kei asked. 

“Exactly what I said. One of you will be sent back in time to stop your friend from leaving. If you succeed, you get to keep him. If you don’t, I get to take something. It’s a simple process.”

“Kei will go, I’ll stay.”

Kei turned in shock at Shou. “No way, I’m not leaving you here.”

“Perfect,” the spirit said. “He’ll stay with me, and don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him.” It snapped it’s fingers, and Shou disappeared from next to Kei. 

“What did you do?” Kei yelled. 

“You don’t have to worry about that. If I were you, I’d focus on getting your friend back, or you’ll never see your orange haired buddy again.” The spirit snapped it’s fingers again, and Kei felt the world spin, before everything went black. 


	2. Where Am I?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei wakes up back in his third year of high school. He realizes he doesn't have much time to save Tadashi. He tries to find out what he can, but it's more difficult than he thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe, I hope you enjoy this chapter! The next one should be posted sometime before this week ends (:

“Tsukki!” 

Kei opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a pair of brown eyes staring back into his. He knew those eyes. 

“Tsukki! You’re awake. Everyone! Give him space. Tsukki, can you hear me?” Tadashi asked him nervously. 

“Wuh…?” Really clever, Kei.

“Everyone watch out,” a new voice demanded. He slightly turned his head, which sent a wave of pain through his skull. “Tsukishima, where are you?”

“What happened?” Kei asked, his words were a little slurred. His head hurt really badly, and he felt a warm substance dripping down his cheek and into his ear. 

“You were hit in the face with a ball,” the voice, Kei identified it as Takeda-sensei, said. “Do you know where you are? Or the date?”

Kei once again tried to look around, and was again met with sharp pain. But he would know the wooden floors anywhere. 

“The gym. At Karasuno,” he added. He didn’t know how specific Takeda-sensei wanted him to be. But the date? He had no idea which day he woke up in. He could vaguely remember walking in the woods with…

“Shou?” Kei asked as he saw a nervous Shou looking over Takeda-sensei’s shoulder. 

Shou looked very confused, and a little scared. “I’m so sorry Tsukkishima! I didn’t mean to hit you! Please don’t kill me!” 

Then it hit him. He remembered what happened in the forest. He frantically sat up, which caused him to yell out in pain. 

Shou yelped and jumped back, while Takeda put his hands on Kei’s shoulders.    
  


“Please, don’t move too fast. You need to go to the nurse. You could have a concussion. This could be really serious if you don’t get it looked at. Tadashi!” he turned and looked at the boy. “Please take Tsukishima to the nurse’s office. The rest of you, go back to practice.”

Tadashi held out his hand to Kei. “Come on, let’s go.”

Kei took his hand and let him lift him up. They left the gym, while the rest of the volleyball team reluctantly went back to practicing. The walk to the nurse was quiet. Kei was happy to be in Tadashi’s presence again. He felt like he was going to burst into tears at any minute, which would be incredibly embarrassing for him. 

Nevertheless, when the two boys got to the nurse’s office, Kei turned and got a good look at Tadashi for the first time in 15 years. He looked exactly how Kei remembered him. Tadashi looked over at Kei in confusion. 

“Everything okay, Tsukki?” Kei lost it then. Hearing Tadashi’s dumb nickname for him was what pushed him over the edge. “Whoa, Tsukki! Are you in a lot of pain? What happened? What should I do?” Tadashi was panicking, and Kei felt a little bad about it, but mostly he felt ecstatic because he was finally able to talk to his best friend again. 

“It’s nothing, Yamaguchi. My head just hurts a bit,” he lied. He hurriedly wiped his tears. When he pulled his hands back from his face, he noticed that they were red. He touched his face again, and realized his nose must’ve been bleeding. He didn’t even notice. Yamaguchi noticed. 

“Tsukki! You’re bleeding! Here,” he looked around for something to cover his nose with. Luckily for them, the nurse opened the door, and when seeing how much Kei was bleeding, pulled them into her office, asking Yamaguchi what happened. As he explained, Kei was guided to a stool, where he sat down while the nurse cleaned him up. 

“-but Takeda-sensei says he probably has a concussion,” Yamaguchi finished. 

The nurse nodded. She asked Kei to do a bunch of things, like follow her finger, and when she was done, told him he was concussed. Just great. 

Kei found out that the day was November, 8th. Two days before Tadashi disappears. He has two days to find out what happens and how to stop it, or else the two people he loves most would be gone forever. So no pressure or anything. 

Yamaguchi and Kei got back to the club room to get changed out of their practice clothes. When they got there, they heard yelling coming from the otherside of the door. So the idiot duo were still here. Perfect. 

Yamaguchi pushed open the door, and Kei sighed at the sight before them. Hinata was hanging from the locker by the collar of his shirt and Kageyama was smuggly smiling at him. 

“What on Earth happened in here?” Yamaguchi asked them. Which resulted in both of them talking over one another trying to explain. Yamaguchi cut them off and decided he didn’t want to know. He then told Kei to get Hinata down. 

“Why me? The moron just gave me a concussion.”

“Because I’m your captain, and I told you so,” Yamaguchi said matter of factly. But when the other two weren’t looking, he sent him a wink. Kei wanted to jump off the balcony. He had completely forgotten that Yamaguchi used to tease him about his little crush on their ace. (Okay, so maybe the crush wasn’t as little as Kei made it out to be, but that wasn’t the issue.) 

Kei sighed, and went over to Sho-  _ Hinata _ and took a look to see how exactly he was stuck up there. He quickly saw that the King had closed the locker on the back of his shirt, and since he was so short, he couldn’t get it undone. Kei opened the locker up, which caused Hinata to fall from where he was hanging. 

“Stingyshima! Warn me next time!” he called out from the floor, laying flat on his back. 

“One would hope you wouldn’t be so stupid as to get yourself stuck in that situation again,” Kei teased. Hinata scrambled up and shoved Kei.    
  


“Ha ha. You’re buying me a meatbun. You too Bakayama. I deserve it.”

Kei rolled his eyes, but agreed anyway. He was used to Hinata demanding food for every small inconvenience. After three years of knowing each other, Kei knew that was the way to make him feel better. 

The four third years made their way out of the clubroom, met with Yachi, and walked to Ukai’s store. Kei bought Hinata his meatbun, and waited outside for the rest of them to come out. He heard footsteps, and turned to see Hinata walking out. He spotted Kei and made his way over. 

“Tsukishima!” He waved as if Kei wouldn’t see him. It wasn’t like they were the only two out here or anything. 

When Hinata got closer he said, “How’s your head? Sorry again for spiking a ball at your face. I truly didn’t mean to.”

Kei laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Of course I know you didn’t mean to, idiot. And it’s fine, doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

Hinata nodded. “Good, I just feel so bad. Now you can’t play for the next two weeks! I couldn’t imagine. You’re still going to come to practice right?”

Kei nodded. He didn’t see why he shouldn’t. 

Hinata sagged in relief. “Good, I’d miss you.” Kei felt his face burning when he said that. Hinata must’ve not realized what he said, because after a few seconds of silence, he let out a strangled sound. 

“Gah! I, I shouldn’t - uh- I just meant, I -”

Kei burst out laughing. “Hinata, I know what you meant. For the record, I’d, uh, I’d miss you too. I guess.”

Hinata whipped his head around to look Kei in the eyes. Kei’s face was burning and he had a feeling it was extremely red, but he held eye contact with Hinata. His eyes were a nice, comforting shade of brown that Kei would gladly get lost in. 

“Hey, Tsukishima? Could I- uh, can I kiss you?”

Kei felt like he was watching himself from outside his body. Probably because he has lived this before. He can’t believe he forgot about it, but Hinata asking that one question sent a flood of memories back into his head. He doesn’t know if it had something to do with the Spirit sending him back, or if his memory is just that bad, but he knew exactly what happens next. 

Kei nodded, maybe a little too eagerly, and let Hinata pull him down to meet his lips. As much as Kei enjoyed the kiss, he couldn’t help but feel anxious, knowing that the others were going to come out of the store any minute. And Kei would like to avoid being walked in on while kissing the boy he’s had a crush on for a year now. 

Unfortunately for the both of them, Kei didn’t time it just right (it did happen years ago), and he heard a small “Oh!”, causing him and Hinata to jump apart. 

Kei turned and saw the other three first years looking at them in shock. Yamaguchi was the first one to break the silence. 

“Well finally! I thought we’d have to deal with you two pining for each other for the rest of the year. I was this” (he held his fingers so close together that they were almost touching) “close to locking you guys in the club room or something.”

Hinata laughed shakily, “Good one Yama, but you wouldn’t have done that, right?”

Yamaguchi smirked at them. “Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he responded sweetly. 

  
  
  
  
  


“Okay, Tsukki, spill. What happened while we were in the store?” Tadashi asked, practically begging Kei. They were walking together home, splitting off from the others a little bit ago. 

“Why do you want to know so badly? He just apologized for hitting me, and next thing I know, we were kissing. It’s not that big of a deal.” Kei sighed. He knew Tadashi wouldn’t leave him alone about this. But he was hoping that maybe, by some miracle, his memory was wrong. 

“You don’t ‘just kiss someone’! There’s more to that, and don’t tell me there isn’t. I know you are not telling me everything.” Unfortunately, Kei was right. 

“Fine. He said he’d miss me if I wasn’t there, so I told him I’d miss him too. “

Tadashi gasped. “Tsukki! I didn’t know you cared about other people! This is a big deal, we should bake a cake that says, ‘Congrats on Caring about others!’. Oh, it can be strawberry. I know how much you like strawberries.”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

“Sorry, Tsukki.” He didn’t sound the least bit sorry. 

They walked in silence for a little bit. Kei still couldn’t believe that he was walking next to Tadashi again. It was like nothing had changed. Kei kept trying to pick up on any clues about what happens, but so far, he has nothing. This short walk seemed the same as it always was. So Kei tried a different approach. 

“Yamaguchi?”

“Hm?”

Kei took a deep breath. Trying to figure out the best way to phrase this.

“Has something happened? You seem… different.” Kei didn’t really see a difference, but Yamaguchi wouldn’t know.

Yamaguchi looked up at him stiffly, fear flashing in his eyes. But when Kei blinked, it was gone. He seemed relaxed again, almost like he had imagined the negative reaction. 

“Of course, Tsukki, everythings fine. Just same old same old.” He let out a forced laugh. Kei didn’t believe him at all, but he nodded anyway, sensing that he wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. 

“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, Tsukki!” He walked off quickly, like he was running away from Kei. Kei was frozen where he was. They still didn’t have to part for another few blocks. What was he hiding?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei keeps trying to figure out why Tadashi is acting the way he is, but with no luck. He does however, find out something else of interest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update took a little longer to write, but here it is! I'm not sure if this fic will have one or two more chapters, but either way we are drawing to the end. Thanks for reading and as always, I hope you enjoy!

The next morning, Kei got to his meetup spot with Tadashi early. He wanted to make sure that he somehow wasn’t going to disappear a day early for some reason. He wouldn’t put it past the forest Spirit to do something twisted like that. The time to meet Tadashi came and went, and there was still no sign of him. Kei could feel himself starting to worry about his best friend. A bunch of what if?’s were bouncing around his brain. What if he did disappear early? What if something different happened to him? 

After about 30 torturous minutes, Kei heard the sound of feet pounding against the pavement, and his eyes followed where the sound was coming from. He was met with the sight of Tadashi sprinting down the sidewalk. He skidded to a stop, as Kei jumped out of his way. 

“Sorry Tsukki! Man, I woke up late,” he said smiling apologetically. “You’d think since I'm the captain, I’d be better at being on time. I hope Tobio isn’t too mad at me for being late. You didn’t have to wait for me.” 

Kei didn’t know if he fully believed Tadashi. Sure everyone woke up late once in a while, but Tadashi wasn’t the type to do that. And now since he was captain, Kei knows he’s very adamant on being right on time. Nevertheless, Kei just shrugged and said “Well let’s go,” and the two where on their way. 

When the boys finally got to the gym, Kei heard the sound of volleyballs hitting the floor and the yells of “got it!” and “nice kill!”. They were really late. 

“There’s Captain!” one of the underclassmen yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at Tadashi and Kei, who were both standing in the doorway to the gym. Coach Ukai gave them a stern look and jerked his head in the direction of the gym, as if he was saying “Well? Get started.”

Tadashi clapped his hands together. “Sorry for being late, it won’t happen again!” He bowed low, and nudged Kei in the side with his elbow. 

Kei jumped, and gave a small bow of his neck, which seemed to be enough for Coach. They jumped into practice. 

Kei was off the whole time though. He kept missing blocks and fumbling his receives. His mind was on what Yamaguchi could have possibly been doing this morning that caused him to be so late. Kei knew that he was not going to get an answer out of Yamaguchi, so he thought about asking Kageyama if he knew anything. The only downfall to that was the fact that it was  _ Kageyama,  _ so Kei decided to ask Yachi first. He actually liked Yachi, so it would be easier to ask her if she saw anything weird with Yamaguchi. So when practice was over, he made his way over to where he last saw the manager. But before he could reach her, he was intercepted by the King himself. 

“Tsukishima!” Kageyama held out his arms, as if he was blocking Kei from walking past him. 

“What do you need?” Kei tried his hardest to be nice to Kageyama. He knew Yamaguchi had a thing for him, even if he refused to admit it. But when he was acting like this, Kei’s patience ran thin.

“What’s wrong with you today? Your playing was sloppy. You looked like Hinata.” 

“Hey! Bakayama! I can hear you, idiot,” Shou yelled from across the gym. He waved enthusiastically at Kei, who reluctantly waved back. He didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Kei felt his chest warm at the blinding simile Shou gave him. 

“Hey! I didn’t stop you to watch you and Hinata give each other lovey dovey looks. I want to know why you were playing badly.”

Kei rolled his eyes, the warmth in his chest disappearing at Kageyama’s words. Well, since he was here, he might as well ask. 

“I’m- uh- worried about Yamaguchi. He’s acting weird.”

Kageyama looks surprised. Probably because he didn’t expect Kei to actually give him a reason. He then took a minute to think about what Kei said. Then he slowly nodded. 

“I noticed it too. He is never late like he was today. Plus, the other day we were-” his face turned red. “Um-hanging out, in the park, and he left suddenly. He just said he had to get home. It was weird. He never does that when we- uh- hang out.” 

Kei raised his eyebrows. “You know, King, I won’t be mad if you guys are dating.”

Kageyama turned even more red, which Kei didn’t even know was possible. 

“Oh no it’s not that!” he said frantically. “We were just hanging out, nothing like that happened! I promise. It was just-”

“He likes you, too, by the way. But anyway, thanks for telling me. I wonder what it is he’s hiding.” Kei took that as a perfect time to leave this conversation he didn’t want to ever have, especially not with Kageyama. As he was walking away, he heard the King call out his name. 

He turned around. Kageyama looked oddly hopeful. “He likes me back?”

Kei sighed, then just turned around and walked out of the gym. He didn’t have time for that. 

  
  
  
  
  


Kei couldn’t concentrate the rest of the day. Hours dragged, and finally it was time for lunch. He grabbed his lunchbox and looked up to the front of the class where Yamaguchi usually sits. His seat was empty. Kei didn’t see him leave the class. This could be bad. 

He walked up to the girl who sits next to him and awkwardly cleared his throat to get her attention. 

“Excuse me, do you know where Yamaguchi went?” Kei asked her, as politely as he could muster. 

“Um… I think Tadashi-kun went to the bathroom? I don’t really know, he looked like he was in a rush though.”

Kei nodded his thanks and hurriedly walked out of the classroom, he vaguely heard his teacher yell at him to walk. He needed to find Tadashi. If he doesn’t, Kei doesn’t know what would happen to him and future Shou. He threw open the bathroom door, and yelled out Tadashi’s name. No one answered. There was no one in the bathroom with him. He hurriedly made his way to the other bathroom that was on this floor. He didn’t know why Tadashi would go to that one, when the other one was closer to their classroom, but he didn’t have any choice but to look all over the school. The only other person in the second bathroom was a second year boy, who looked terrified at the appearance of Kei. 

Kei cursed under his breath, and left the bathroom to head to another one on the floor below them. He was so engrossed in his search, that he almost didn’t see Hinata bouncing up to him. 

“Tsukishima! Whatcha doing that has you so distracted?”

“I’m looking for Tadashi, he left class and we were supposed to walk together to the lunch spot.”

“Hmmm… did you check the bathroom?” Hinata asked. 

“Wow, Hinata, I didn’t think of that!” Kei exclaimed with false excitement. He knew he shouldn’t take his frustration out on him, but he didn’t really care at the moment. The only important thing was finding Tadashi. 

Hinata pouted. “Hey, I’m only trying to help. Maybe he’s already there?”

Kei thought about it. It didn’t make sense why he would already be there. They walked together every day. But Kei supposed that Hinata  _ could  _ be right. 

Kei nodded. “Yeah, I guess you could be right. I can’t think of anywhere else he would be.”

Hinata took his hand, and together they started walking up to the roof, where the five third years ate lunch together. Kei knew he should be focusing on Yamaguchi right now, but the feeling of Hinata’s hand in his own made Kei feel like he was on cloud nine. He didn’t even care about the looks and whisperings they were getting as they made their way down the hallway. 

When they got to the roof, Kei’s good mood fell as he noticed Yamaguchi wasn’t up there. Kageyama and Yachi were sitting next to each other, chatting about some of the underclassmen on the volleyball team. Yamaguchi was nowhere to be found. Hinata guided him to the floor and sat him down. 

“Kei said he was looking for Yama, but couldn’t find him. Do you guys know where he is?” Hinata asked the other two. Kei was grateful he didn’t have to ask, as he was spiraling into a pit of worry. Both Yachi and Kageyama shook their heads. 

“Ugh, does that mean we are alone with the lovebirds?” Kageyama asked in disgust. 

Hinata stuck his tongue out at Kageyama as Yachi laughed at their antics. She then gave Kei a worried glance. 

“Don’t worry, Tsukishima. I’m sure he’s somewhere. It’s not like he could’ve gone far. I bet he’s just talking to a teacher or something.” 

Kei nodded. Yachi had to be right. There was nowhere else for him to go. It’s not like he could just leave the campus. Kei tried to push the worry out of his chest and enjoy his lunch and the fact that Hinata was so close to him. After a while he felt himself relaxing. Yamaguchi had to be fine, he still had a day to save him. Kei could do this. 

When lunch was over, Hinata walked with Kei back to his classroom. Kei listened to whatever Hinata was blabbering about in silence. It’s not like Kei wasn’t paying attention, he was just a little preoccupied. As much as he tried to act like he wasn’t still worried, he was anxious to get back to class to see if Yamaguchi was there or not. 

They stopped outside Kei’s classroom, and Hinata took his hand from Kei’s, which left Kei’s hand cold. 

“Don’t worry about Yamaguchi,’ Hinata said. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s, like, the strongest person I know! He can handle anything.” Kei nodded, knowing Hinata was right. Then Hinata jumped up and pushed a kiss to Kei’s cheek. “See you later, Kei!” he yelled, running down the hall to his own classroom. 

Kei stood there like an idiot. He didn’t know what just happened. His hand brushed his cheek where Shou had kissed it. He mentally shook himself, and walked into the class. He scanned the room, and nearly sprinted over to Tadashi, who was sitting in his seat, like he’d been there the whole time. Yamaguchi noticed Kei, and waved to him. 

“Where were you?” Kei said as a way of a greeting. 

“Wow Tsukki, not even a 'hello, Yamaguchi, so nice to see you'? Anyway, I was getting help from a teacher, I’m kind of falling behind in English,” he said as he rubbed the back of his head. 

“Well, you should tell me next time. I was looking all over the school for you.”

“Aw Tsukki, you care,” Yamaguchi said with a teasing laugh. Kei grumbled out “whatever”, and he went over to his desk. As he turned back around to get a final look at Yamaguchi, he saw his face darken. There was no way Yamaguchi was getting English help. Kei knew that he hadn't struggled with English since their first year. Whatever was bothering Tadashi, Kei wished that he would at least let Kei know what it was. He was tired of being left in the dark, and he still had no idea how to help Yamaguchi. Kei decided that tonight, he was going to find out what it was. He had a plan. 

  
  
  
  
  


After volleyball practice, Kei’s plan was put into action. He was going to ask Yamaguchi to hang out at his place. Then while they were there, Kei was going to snoop around a little bit. He knew it wasn’t the best, and he felt a little guilty to even be thinking about going through his friend’s things, but Kei figured that he would rather do this than have Yamaguchi disappear forever.

“Hey, Yamaguchi. Is it fine if I go over to your house tonight?” Kei asked, while they were in the club room after practice. 

“Oh, uh, sorry Tsukki, tonights not really a good night. Um, I actually was going to ask if you wanted to come over tomorrow night for my birthday. Hinata already said he’s going to be there. Kageyama and Yachi too. Although, I don’t know if you want to go if Kageyama is gonna be there,” he added at the end with a sing-song voice. Kei rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not going to skip out just because Kageyama is going to be there. But if you’d rather me not go, then I guess I could just make you happy and not go,” Kei said, with faked sadness. Yamaguchi laughed. 

“Yep, you caught on to my evil plan. To drive you away with my boyfrien-” Yamaguchi’s eyes got big, as Kei whipped his head around. “Pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“Yamaguchi? Are you and the King  _ dating?!” _ Kei asked, shocked. It was the first time since Yamaguchi grabbed him by his collar at that training camp two years ago (well really 17, since Kei went back in time) that Yamaguchi left him speechless. 

“You didn’t hear that! I-er-no! We are, just hanging out- and we’re friends! Yeah, friends! We are just a couple of buds who are not dating! Nope, I wouldn’t even want to date him. Definitely not, not with his nice eyes, and his soft hair, and totally kissable lips…” Yamaguchi trailed off with a dreamy look on his face. 

Kei burst out laughing. “Oh, you have it bad.” 

Yamaguchi turned beet red and shoved him. “S-shut up! I’ve seen how you act around Hinata. You are  _ not  _ one to talk.”

Now it was Kei’s turn to become red. “Oh, shut up, Yamaguchi.”

“Sorry, Tsukki!” 

The two friends walked out of the club room laughing, and the rest of the walk home, Kei listened to Yamaguchi gush about Kageyama, which was a bit weird, but if Kei was to tell the truth, ii was nice. He missed it. He found out that the King asked him out after morning practice that day. Kei in turn, told him about the conversation him and Kageyama had. Yamaguchi was a little mortified at the fact that Kei told Kageyama he liked him. But in Kei’s eyes, he’d done them a good service. 

As Yamaguchi waved goodbye to Kei, he decided his plan wasn’t a complete failure, as he was going over tomorrow. He just had a few more people to worry about seeing him snoop around Yamaguchi's room. But either way, Kei was determined to make sure Tadashi survived tomorrow. 


	4. What Happened to Tadashi.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally the day that Tadashi disappears. Will Kei be able to stop it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe sorry this took so long... I got really busy with school. But here it is! I'm not 100% happy, but it's the best I can do for right now. Maybe someday, I'll come back and rewrite some bits I don't like... Idk
> 
> I hope yall enjoy!

Tadashi wasn’t at the meeting spot again the next day. Kei forced down the panic that threatened to burst out of this chest. Obviously, Tadashi was just running late again. Plus, Kei was a little early. It’s fine. Kei checked his phone, and once again, there was nothing. His panic was replaced with anger. He hated being angry at Tadashi, especially when he was going to disappear in about 12 hours, but Kei wished that Tadashi would talk to him. At least tell him what he kept running away to do. 

Kei was so caught up in his thoughts, that he didn’t notice the boy occupying them had appeared next to him, seemingly out of nowhere. 

“G”morning, Tsukki!” 

Kei nearly jumped, whipping his head around to look at Tadashi in surprise. Tadashi laughed at his shock. 

“Jeez, Tsukki, I know my hair looks messy today, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” Tadashi chuckled at his own bad joke, as Kei tried to recover from the mini heart attack his best friend had given him. 

“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” Kei mumbled. 

Tadashi laughed. “Sorry, Tsukki!” The two boys started walking to the gym, falling in step with each other. The walk was mostly quiet, except the quiet “Happy Birthday” Kei told Yamaguchi. It was usually quiet in the morning, with both of them being too tired to talk, but Kei wanted so badly to bring up the burning question that had been on his mind for the past day.  _ Well, I’ve got nothing to lose, _ Kei thought. He opened his mouth to ask, but Tadashi beat him to it. 

“Um, so I was thinking of having a little get together with the other third years on the volleyball team. So me and you, and obviously Tobio. Yachi and Hinata, too. Since, you know, it’s my birthday…” He sounded nervous, as if Kei had never been over to his house before. 

Kei nodded. “Of course I’ll be there. Shame the King has to come, but I guess I’ll be civil.” Tadashi pushed him playfully, laughing. 

“Shut up, I’m the one who has to deal with you and Hinata drooling all over each other.” Kei scoffed. No way that was going to happen. 

After agreeing to go to Tadashi’s later today, Kei lost his courage to ask his friend about his random disappearances. He didn’t want to ruin the good mood that Tadashi was in. He’d ask him at lunch, that gave Kei enough time to figure out how exactly he was going to ask. 

  
  
  
  


_ Why does the universe hate me?  _ Kei thought as he realized that Tadashi disappeared  _ again  _ at lunch. Where does he keep going? 

Kei asked Kageyama if he knew anything, but of course he didn’t. Shouyou reassured Kei that it was probably nothing. 

“And besides,” Shouyou added. “We’re third years, it’s not like we need a babysitter or anything.”

“You probably do, dumbass,” Kageyama interjected. 

Shouyou turned to him in anger and the two started bickering like they usually did. Kei sighed, but didn’t have the energy to stop them. So he just talked with Yachi to try and distract himself from the uneasy feeling in his chest. 

  
  
  
  
  


After what felt like a particularly long practice, and many “Happy Birthday, Captain”’s later, Kei was on his way to the Yamaguchi household. He was determined not to let Tadashi out of his sight. Kei’s heart was racing in his chest, and he knew he was acting paranoid, because Shouyou and Tadashi kept giving him worried looks. Finally, the group of third years made it to Tadashi’s house. 

“Sorry for the intrusion!” They said in unison, and took off their shoes. 

“Oh, no one’s home, Dad is still at work, and Mom… is visiting family,” Tadashi told them, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. For some reason, Kei didn’t believe Tadashi’s mom was away visiting family. 

Tadashi led the four of them into the kitchen, where he brought out food. Shouyou and Kageyama thanked him enthusiastically, and started shoveling food into their mouths. Kei looked at them in disgust. 

“Really,  _ that’s  _ who you choose to date, Yamaguchi?” Kei stage whispered. Yachi stifled a laugh, as Tadashi snorted. 

“I believe your boyfriend is doing the same.”

After they had gotten food, they sat around in the living room watching various movies. Kei noticed that he wasn’t the only one acting paranoid. Tadashi kept looking at the clock, like he was expecting someone. Now that Kei was thinking about it, this was exactly what he was doing the last time Kei was here. Kei had just thought nothing of it, but now that he knows what happens to his best friend, he is hyper aware of it. 

After the current movie got done, Tadashi got up. 

“Umm… I need to take the trash out.” Then he walked quickly into the kitchen. 

“Why did he announce it like that?” Kageyama wondered out loud. 

Kei also got up. “I’ll go help him.”

He walked into the kitchen to see it was empty. His stomach sank. He looked at the back door and found it was slightly ajar. He ran and threw it open, sprinting through the woods, yelling out Tadashi’s name. After 10 minutes of looking, Kei felt his heart break.  _ No. No no no no! This couldn’t be happening!  _ Kei continued frantically looking around, but the trees let in no light, and he hadn’t brought a flashlight. 

Then he saw it. A flash of light. He took off in that direction, his legs burning. He ignored it, as he broke through the trees into an oddly familiar clearing. It was the same clearing that started all of this. And standing in the middle was a very scared looking Tadashi, and the same forest spirit that sent him here. 

“Tadashi! Get away!” Kei screamed. Tadashi’s head whipped around, and his eyes met Kei’s. 

“Tsukki? What-? How-? No, you need to go, before you get hurt!” Tadashi went over to where Kei was standing, and gently, but firmly, started pushing him away. 

“NO! I won’t leave you! I know what happens, that... _ thing…  _ is going to take you away!” 

Tadashi froze where he was, his hands still on Kei’s shoulders. His head was hanging down, face looking at the ground. He sniffled. 

“I know. I need to. It’s the only way to save my mom. It has her, that’s what I’ve been doing this whole time. I know you noticed. She was laid off, and she thought that maybe it would help if she made a deal… but I think we both know how well that went. I’ve been doing different tasks for it, in hopes it’ll give her back, he said this was the last one. I’ll do anything to save my mom, you know this Tsukki.” Tadashi looked up then, into Kei’s eyes. He had tears streaming down his face. 

“Tadashi-”

Tadashi gave a final push on Kei’s shoulders, and he tumbled to the ground. He then turned around as the spirit laughed. 

“How much fun, I get three bodies for the price of one.”

Kei was done for. Both him and Tadashi were screwed, plus future Shou. Great, he had failed. 

Tadashi’s eyes widened. “You said it would just be me, you promised you wouldn’t hurt my friends!” 

The spirit shrugged. “I changed my mind.” 

“You can’t just ‘change your mind’ that’s not how this works! We had a deal, me in exchange for my mom, and you never hurt any of my friends or family again. If you even lay a finger, or uh, whatever it is you have, on Tsukki, I’m not going to uphold my part.”

The spirit’s color changed from a pure black shadow, to flaming red. 

“ _ You  _ cannot do that, boy! If you don’t do your part… I’m done for! You hear me? DONE!”

Kei got hit with a realization. If the deal was it wouldn’t hurt any of Tadashi’s friends…

“Tadashi! It already failed to hold up it’s part of the deal. It has Hinata!” 

Tadashi turned to look at Kei. He looked confused. “But, Hinata is at my house-” His eyes cleared up in recognition. “You aren’t my Tsukki. You were sent here, weren’t you?” He turned back to the spirit.

“Where’s Hinata? What did you do to him?” he demanded. 

The spirit started backing up a little. “I, he’s fine, I didn’t hurt him, I promise. All you need to do is uphold your part of the deal, and you can see him again.” Kei could almost hear desperation in the spirit’s voice.

Tadashi shook his head. “You broke your promise, so I’m breaking mine.” He then ran to where Kei was laying on the floor and tried to help him up. 

“ _ You-you little brat! I’ll get you for this!”  _

Kei and Tadashi looked in horror as the spirit started glowing, brighter and brighter, until the two boys had to look away. As fast as it started, it was over. They were left in complete darkness. 

  
  
  
  
  


Kei blinked open his eyes. He was looking up at stars. What happened? Where was he?

“Kei!” 

He bolted up to the sound of Shou’s voice. Shou came bounding out from the trees, right into Kei’s arms. He was back where he belonged. Everything was fine, Shou was here, Kei was here, and Tadashi-. 

Where was Tadashi?

“Man, I was so scared. We got separated and I thought I heard a noise, it sounded like a bear or a wolf. Do you think there are wolves out here? Oh no, what if we get eaten!” 

“Shou, where’s Tadashi?” Kei interrupted. 

Shou gave him a confused look. “Umm, probably back at his parents house. It is his birthday party, remember? That’s the whole reason we are in Miyagi. Did you fall and hit your head? Oh is that why you’re on the ground?”

“Wait, Tadashi’s here? Like right now?” Kei asked excitedly. Shou nodded, still very confused. Kei jumped to his feet, yanked Shou off the ground and pulled him through the woods, back in the direction of the Yamaguchi house. 

“Whoa, Kei calm down! You’re gonna yank my arm out of its socket.” Kei didn’t really care, all he wanted was to see Tadashi. 

He got to the back door, and threw it open. Everyone inside got quiet from the unexpected noise. When they saw it was just Kei and Shou, they went back to talking. Kei searched the room, and his eyes met Tadashi’s, and he smiled. 

He did it.


End file.
